This invention is related generally to processing data with computers, and in particular to converting data from one format to another.
Two organizations that wish to conduct business with one another electronically find they can send electronic messages to each other, but that the messages are in different formats. The messages sent by a company to one of its suppliers will not be understood unless a mechanism is in place to translate the message from the company""s format to the supplier""s format. The set of rules for doing such a translation is called a map.
Traditionally, maps had to be developed manually by human experts such as business analysts by documenting the field names of the messages. Traditional Software tools can also do mappings, however, the field names must be identical in order for the traditional software tools to work.
These tools are deficient in the degree of automation with which the maps may be produced. Two message format-types that are being mapped may have a complex relationship that requires a sophisticated conversion procedure or calculation. Such a conversion procedure is called a rule.
However, using traditional mapping methods, a human operator must intervene in the mapping process to enter the rules manually. It is in the specification of rules that current software tools are found wanting. If the same kind of conversion has to be done in different maps, or several times within the same map, the same rule has to be manually entered each time.
It is desirable to have a system that allows these rules to be more easily manipulated. It is further desirable to copy the procedures, eliminating the error-prone and tiresome process of entering the procedure manually each time it is needed. Furthermore, a need exists to store a procedure in a persistent storage system such as a database, and retrieve it automatically. Finally, the procedures should be available to the mapping mechanism, and retrievable in such a way as to require minimal intervention from a human operator.
A method and apparatus for automatically selecting a rule during the mapping process, and storing the rule independently of message type, is provided. The method and apparatus allow these rules to be inferred during the mapping process, and to be manipulated easily by a user.